by Kevin Ryan
"Why not make some more diamonds, Max?" Maria asked.
"The only place to sell them in this town would be the pawnshop, and the owner will call the police if we step inside again. And with no transportation, we can't get to the next town," Max said.
"So what now? We're hundreds of miles from home. We can't use a cell phone… or, God forbid, an ATM. The van is busted, and we'll be lucky if we have enough money for a motel room for the night.”
"If we don't spend anything else," Max said.
"Wait a minute, what about food? Buddha's Middle Way requires that I avoid extremes of self-denial," Kyle said.
That's right, the boys haven't eaten, Liz thought. Sud- denly, Liz felt guilty about the food she, Isabel, and Maria had eaten, and the money they had spent.
"There has to be something we can do to make some money," Maria said.
"We could use our powers to rob a bank," Michael said.
All the others shot him a look, and he put his hands up and said, "Kidding.”
"Max?" Liz said.
He shrugged. "I don't have any answers here," he said.
Kyle stepped forward and said, "It's obvious, then.”
"What?" Maria asked.
"We'll have to get jobs to make enough money to fix the van and get out of town," Kyle said.
"In the meantime, we'll have to pay for food and a place to sleep," Liz added.
"Looks like we don't have a choice," Max said.
"You guys have to eat," Liz said. "We have to figure something out.”
Max nodded and said, "After we have a room for the night, we'll see how much we have left.”
Michael and Kyle seemed relieved to hear that. "But first, we need to stop by the garage and make sure they've started on the van.”
Liz nodded and pointed down the street in the direc- tion of the garage. "Gomer said it's Johnny's Garage and is down the street," she said.
"We'll split up. Michael, Kyle, and I will see about the van and see if we can find a room and any work," Max said.
"We can start job hunting in the meantime," Liz said.
"We'd better hurry. It's getting close to five. People are going to start closing up. I don't think this town has much in the way of nightlife," Maria said.
As they approached the garage, Kyle said, "Let me do the talking.”
Max twitched in surprise, but didn't say anything. It took an effort for him not to take charge, Kyle realized. "Garage-mechanic powers, boys," he said.
"Of course," Max said.
"Yeah, we're just mere human-alien hybrids with the ability to transform matter and control incredible ener- gies," Michael said.
Johnny's Garage was at least a hundred yards past the last store on Main Street, an ancient Laundromat. The garage looked just as ancient. It was basically a large barn with sheds jutting haphazardly from the sides. A pair of gas pumps sat in front, and a number of equally old cars were scattered around the place.
The small office was empty, so Kyle led the way into the barn itself. There were four repair bays, three of which were currently occupied by cars that were nearly his age and looked it.
The first bay contained a car over thirty years old. It was a 1968 Thunderbird in mint condition. The hood was down, and Kyle was certain it was the owner's car and had obviously been cared for very well.
Kyle racked his brain for information on that car. It might come in handy.
The shop itself was surprisingly well kept… at least compared with the outside. He had been expecting the place to be littered with junk, but tools and car parts were all pretty much in their place.
And though Johnnys Garage lacked some of the com- puterized diagnostic equipment that Kyle had taken for granted back in Roswell, he doubted that equipment would be necessary in this town, considering the age of the cars he had seen here.
The other remarkable thing about the shop was that it seemed to be empty of people.
"Hello," Kyle called out as they walked toward the back of the barn.
After he repeated himself two more times, someone appeared from under the car in the last bay.
Kyle immediately saw that he was older than Kyle's own father, perhaps by ten years or more. Tall and wiry, the man had hair so gray, it was almost white. It was also long and tied back in a ponytail.
Like virtually everyone they had seen so far in Stonewall, the man eyed them suspiciously.
"Hi," Kyle said.
The man nodded.
"Is this your place?" Kyle asked.
"Yep," the man said.
"So you're Johnny," Kyle said, giving the man a friendly smile.
He shook his head and said simply, "Nope," offering no further explanation. Kyle didn't press the issue.
"That your T-Bird?" Kyle said.
"Yep," the man said.
. "It's nice… you don't see a lot of them on the road," Kyle said, keeping his voice friendly even as he felt the tension from Michael behind him. Buddha taught patience, but Michael was no Buddhist. The man didn't reply. Seeing that he wasn't getting anywhere with small talk, Kyle decided to get to business. "Gomer towed our van," Kyle said, gesturing to the van in the second repair bay.
"Won't start," the man said.
"Have you opened it up yet?" Kyle asked "Nope," the man replied.
"Well, I saw that two pistons were out, plus the timing chain, and the starter," Kyle said.
The man's expression changed slightly, and for a moment he looked at Kyle with a flicker of respect. The man approached the van and said, "Guess it's pretty well busted.”
"Can you fix it?" Kyle asked.
"Yep," the man said. "But parts will be a problem." The man circled the van, looking at it with mild inter- est now.
"Gomer said you had a junked VW van. Maybe we could work something out," Kyle said.
"Maybe we could," the man said. Then he shifted his attention to the boys and said, "Before we get into a long discussion here tell me if you have the money for this.”
Looking down, Kyle realized they were a mess after driving through the night and walking for two hours. He didn't blame the man for asking. The three of them didn't look like they had the money for lunch much less for expensive repairs on a classic car.
And, more importantly, they actually didn't have the money. Kyle realized that they should have concocted a better story. Of course, they had expected to have money from Max's gold. Now, they were broke, and Kyle didn't want to admit it, but he didn't see that he had much choice. "See, that's the thing…," Kyle said. "We don't have the money right now. But… ”
The man was already turning away from them and heading back to the car he had been working on.
"Wait," Kyle said, following him as the man leaned down under the open hood to look at the engine.
"Look, come back when you've got some money," the man said, not looking up.
"Well, I was wondering if you needed any help around here," Kyle said. "I worked in… " Kyle caught himself. He had almost said Roswell.
"Down south," he said finally.
"Don't need any help," the man said.
"Look, you're backed up, and you're here by yourself," Kyle said.
The man shook his head and was about to speak when Kyle added, "And you'll be here all night if you think replacing that fuel pump will make a difference.”
Kyle pointed to the old fuel pump on the ground next to the car the man was working on. The new one he no doubt intended to put in was sitting right next to it.
"What?" the man said.
"Your problem is with the fuel line," Kyle said.
The man looked at him with surprise. Kyle hoped he had not offended him. He also hoped he was right.
Ducking his head into the engine compartment, the man reached down for a moment and pulled his hand back up. Kyle could see that his fingers were wet with gas.
The man looked up at him in genuine surprise and said, "Long crack in the fuel line, like you said. How did you know that?”
> "In these big, old eight-cylinder Chevys more often than not it's an old fuel line that's the trouble. Look, I really know what I'm doing," Kyle said.
The man stood up and studied Kyle for a moment. "We don't get a lot of strangers here, and they make people in Stonewall nervous," he said.
"Why?" Kyle asked.
The man shrugged and said, "There's been some trouble." He didn't elaborate, and Kyle decided not to push it.
"Be here at seven tomorrow morning. If you know what you're doing, I'll give you a chance. Seven bucks an hour.”
"Seven?" Kyle said, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice. He had made almost twice that at home.
"This isn't down south, son, in case you haven't noticed. Anyway, you look like you need a job, and I don't need the help that badly," the man said.
"Okay, okay," Kyle said. Then an idea struck him, and he pointed back at Max and said, "My friend here knows bodywork. He's, um, got great hands, if you need that kind of thing.”
Kyle turned to get Max's attention, but it wasn't neces- sary. Max kept his face neutral and nodded, going along with whatever Kyle was doing.
The man waved him off and said, "Let's see if you can hold a wrench first, then we'll see about your friend.”
Kyle held out his hand and said, "I'm Kyle, by the way.”
The man hesitated and then finally shook Kyle's hand. "Dan.”
"I'll see you at seven, Dan," Kyle said.
Dan didn't respond. He simply turned and went back to work on the car.
As Kyle and his friends stepped back outside, Max said, "Nice work.”
Michael added, "Yeah, one of us has a job.”
Kyle couldn't help but smile, then he said, "True, but at seven dollars an hour, it will take me a couple of months to pay for the repairs.”
"Michael and I will find something, and maybe the girls will too," Max said. Then he added, "You do realize that I've never done bodywork in my life.”
"Yes, but you can reorganize matter at the molecular level," Kyle said! "I'm sure your powers will work fine when it comes to banging out dents.”
Kyle realized as he spoke that he had done something that Max and Michael hadn't been able to do with their remarkable powers. He had done something that would help himself and his friends.
On the way back into town, Kyle found that he could barely keep the smile from his face.
7
You're kidding," Maria said finally. "Anything but that.”
"We've tried everywhere else," Liz said.
"Despite appearances, this town does not seem to be a powerhouse of opportunity," Isabel said. "Take it from me, the new relief person at the Laundromat.”
Before Maria could respond, Liz said, "Come on," and reached for the door of the diner. She stopped for a moment when she saw Jimmy's flyer about his missing sis- ter. They had seen three more missing notices at other places in town, all for young women.
A moment later, they were inside again. Jimmy was clearing a table and looked up immediately and met Liz's eyes. She saw the question on his face, but she had no answers for him.
I wish I knew where she was, Liz thought as she gave Jimmy a thin smile.
Inside, it was dinnertime, and Liz was surprised to see the place was two thirds full. The same woman was there, running from table to table. There was another waitress, also in street clothes, who was helping her. By the way she carried herself, Liz could tell that she had little or no wait- ressing experience.
She was fumbling around, clearly overwhelmed… both women were.
"They're in the weeds," Maria said, shaking her head in sympathy.
"Yeah," Liz said. That was the term they used for com- pletely drowning at their waitressing stations. There was no cure for it. You just had to struggle through until things got sorted out and business slowed down.
As Isabel found a table, Liz and Maria waited at the counter and caught the women in charge as she headed for the kitchen.
"Excuse me," Liz said. The woman turned to her and said in a short voice, "Yes?”
Liz spoke quickly and said, "We saw the 'Help Wanted' sign and we're looking for work.”
The woman looked them over quickly. Liz saw a flash of recognition in her eyes and realized that she remem- bered them from earlier. "You have experience?" she said.
"Yes," Maria and Liz said together.
"Tons," Liz added.
Without thinking, the woman said, "If you're here at six thirty tomorrow, you're hired.”
Then she was gone.
"We have jobs," Liz said, immediately feeling relief.
"Is that the good news or the bad news?" Maria asked, frowning. The two girls joined Isabel at the table just as Max, Michael, and Kyle arrived in the diner. Max smiled at Liz as the boys crowded into the booth.
"How did you guys do?" Liz asked.
"Well, the garage won't start on the van until we have some money, but Kyle got a job there," Max replied.
Liz saw the pride on Kyle's face and understood it.
"What about you two?" Maria asked.
Michael shook his head. "Nothing. I came close, at the Laundromat, but a tall girl with brown hair beat me to the coveted relief-attendant job," he said as he shot Isabel a look.
"It's okay, Maria and I will be working here tomorrow," Liz said. "We'll be out of here before we know it. How much will the repairs cost, Kyle?”
"If we were paying for them, could be as much as a thousand," Kyle said.
There were sharp intakes of breath around the table.
Kyle lifted his hand and said, "But I'm hoping that the boss will let me do the work after hours, so then it would just be the parts… just a few hundred.”
"Even so, it could be weeks before we earn that here… after we pay for food and somewhere to sleep," Max said.
"Did you guys find a place?" Liz said.
Max nodded. "There's a motel just outside of town. A room is forty dollars a night," he said.
"Just about everything we have," Maria said.
Liz quickly did the math in her head. "It would leave us with less than three dollars," she said. She shook her head. "We're not doing it. We'll sleep in the van tonight.”
"What?" Maria said.
"If we spend the money on a room, you guys will have nothing to eat. And we'll have nothing tomorrow," Liz said.
"We'll be okay," Max said. "We can get a room.”
Michael looked over at Max in surprise.
"No," Liz said, before Michael could respond.
"Tell you what, Max," Liz said. "Let's put it to a vote.”
"Out of the question," Max said.
"If you remember, you made it clear that you don't want to make all the decisions," Liz said, smiling. She turned to the group. "All in favor of getting the boys some food.”
Liz put her hand up, followed by Isabel, then Michael, Kyle, and finally Maria.
"That's the problem with democracy: Not everybody gets what they want," Liz said. Waving over the waitress, Liz watched the guys order. After the boys had finished, Liz realized she was tired. By the look of them, so was the rest of the group. Checking her watch, she saw it was almost six thirty. "We can't hang around here all night," Liz said.
"Yeah, we'll see enough of this place tomorrow," Maria said.
"We should head back to the van," Max said. He turned to Kyle and asked, "Do you think it's safe? I didn't notice when they close.”
"Five thirty," Kyle said. "If the sign was right. We should be okay.”
The group moved down the street, still attracting the interest of the few people who were on the street. There were very few people, Liz noticed, even for a sleepy little town. And no one seemed to be sitting outside anywhere… either on a porch or in front of a store. Instead, everyone she saw was either coming or going. No one was staying still or even lingering outside. Thus, they were able to make their way down Main Street without attracting too much attention.
"There," Kyle said, pointing to
a large barn just past the Laundromat. When they got closer, Liz could see the johnny's garage sign. Fortunately, the place looked empty and locked up.
"I don't think anyone's here," Kyle said.
"Good," Max said.
The group made its way to the far side of the barn, where their van was parked among a bunch of old cars that didn't look like they had been running anytime recently.
And it doesn't look like they will be going anywhere any time soon, Liz thought.
Unfortunately, their van seemed to fit right in among them.
Max tried the door, which was locked; in fact, all the doors were locked.
"Dan has the only key," Kyle said.
"No problem," Max said as he placed his hand over the lock on the driver's side door. There was a click from inside, and Max opened the door.
"Alien-powers unleashed," Max said flatly, though Liz could hear the hint of humor in his voice.
Less than a minute later, the group was all in their seats.
It was just starting to get dark out, but already Liz felt like she had sandpaper on her eyelids. She hadn't had much sleep in the last two days, but even so, she knew she had had more than Max, who hadn't slept at all the night before.
Looking outside, Max said, "We should be warm enough.”
He was right. It was still in the seventies outside, and was comfortable in the van. If they would be sleeping in the van a lot in the coming months, Liz made a note to remember that they should not wander into cold climates as they got closer to the fall.
Liz heard a smacking sound, then Michael said, "Ow.”
That made Liz smile. If Maria and Michael hadn't fig- ured out their relationship yet, they would have plenty of time on this trip.
As her eyes closed, she felt Max's lips on hers.
"Good night Liz," he said.
"Night, Max," Liz said, smiling. She opened her eyes for a moment to see Max watching her. Then she stopped fighting it.
At the end of the first day of her new life, Liz Parker fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.
Max woke instantly to the sound of a flashlight tapping near his head.
Before he even remembered where he was, he lifted his right hand in defense. Then his eyes met the eyes of the man who owned the garage.
His name is Dan, Max's brain supplied.